»06/04/2013EGYPT - ISLAMCairo, thousands of judges protest against Islamization of societyThe protesters called for the repeal of the law on pre-retirement of judicial officials. Approximately 13 thousand judges to be sent into retirement. For protest leaders the move is an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to maintain power in the judicial field.

Cairo (AsiaNews
/ Agencies) - Thousands of Egyptian judges last night invaded the square before
the High Court in Cairo to demand the end of the rule of the Islamist Justice
and protest against the early retirement of more than 13 thousand officials.

The demonstration
was organized by the Egyptian Judges Club, a union collects about 90% of
Egyptian judges. It
comes after the verdict issued in recent days by the Egyptian Constitutional
Court which has judged the laws that govern the Shura Council (parliament),
dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood unconstitutional, thus rendering void the
controversial proposed laws made in recent years, such as the 'attribution
of extraordinary powers to president Morsi and the ability of the same to
appoint key officials of the Egyptian judicial system.

In recent months
the government and President Mohammed Morsi have defended the draft law on
lowering the retirement age of civil servants as an attempt to eliminate the
judges loyal to the regime of Mubarak. However,
according to leaders of the protest the move would allow the Muslim Brotherhood
to place only judges related to the movement within the courts in order to stem
the loss of support among the population.

Since Mohammed
Morsi's rise to power sentences for blasphemy and offense to the president have
increased. Recently,
Ahmed Duma, an activist, was sentenced to six months in prison for criticizing President
Morsi on social networks. Another
example of the gradual Islamization of the justice system is the case of
Dimyana Ubeid Abdel al-Nour, a Christian teacher on trial for insulting
Islam and Muhammad during a lesson. The woman has always
declared herself innocent. In
her history lesson she had spoken of her respect for the Orthodox Coptic
Patriarch Shenouda III.

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